ing Ongoing System Issues - Z890 Godlike Plus Ultra 9 285K | Looking for Help or Other Stories
ing Ongoing System Issues - Z890 Godlike Plus Ultra 9 285K | Looking for Help or Other Stories
Hey all, Looking for help identifying the root cause of a persistent stability issue with my newly built system. I want to outline everything from the beginning in case anyone has experienced something similar or has insight into what could be going on. System Overview: Motherboard: MSI MEG Z890 GODLIKE CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K GPU: MSI RTX 5080 RAM: DDR5 7200 (XMP used intermittently during testing) PSU: MSI MPG A1000GS PCIe 5.0 (ATX 3.1) Cooling: TRYX Panorama SE 360 AIO OS: Windows 11 (Fresh install after initial issues) Timeline / Symptoms: Initial Setup & Boot Issue: After upgrading to this platform, I couldn’t get into Windows due to Ethernet driver issues. I got impatient and nuked the system with a fresh install. Despite that, I still had to manually download and install LAN drivers on another PC to get back online. Post-Install Behavior (All Stock Settings): UserBenchmark tests ran extremely laggy — delayed sound, choppy visuals, 5–10 second input lag. Boot times were slower than expected (especially compared to older systems using the same SSD). Some benchmarks (like Time Spy and Civ VII) caused hard crashes, not BSODs — just full system lockups with AIO screen resetting, but system still powered. No keyboard/mouse response. Initial Troubleshooting: Updated to the latest BIOS (v1A1) to address potential Arrow Lake microcode and firmware issues. Disabled XMP and saw some perceived improvement, but still experienced crashes under certain loads (3DMark CPU Profile, Time Spy, games). Re-enabled XMP and ran multiple benchmarks. Some completed successfully (Steel Nomad, Speed Way), but crashes eventually returned — same freezing behavior, same reset symptoms. Other Testing & Adjustments: Enabled Fast Boot and Memory Fast Boot (post-BIOS update) — boot time improved noticeably. Plan to begin structured testing using HWiNFO64 logging + benchmark loops to pinpoint the failure point. Testing will involve running multiple benchmark passes with XMP disabled, logging all sensor data to verify if RAM is at fault, or if the root issue lies elsewhere. I am trying to determine whether this is an issue with a specific hardware component (CPU, board, memory, PSU, etc.), or simply growing pains from early BIOS/firmware/driver immaturity on a new platform. If it’s the latter, I’m open to undervolting or other safe tweaks to keep things stable until fixes roll out. If it starts looking like an actual hardware fault, I’ll stop wasting time and pursue an RMA. Has anyone else experienced this type of behavior? Or seen similar reports tied to this generation of Intel CPUs or Z890 motherboards — especially MSI’s GODLIKE? Any links, threads, or firsthand experience would be super appreciated. TL;DR: Z890 GODLIKE + Ultra 9 285K system Initial post-install required manual LAN drivers to reach internet UserBenchmark + general use was laggy even at stock settings Multiple hard crashes in Time Spy/Civ VII Tried disabling/enabling XMP, improved boot time with fast boot, but crashes persisted BIOS updated to latest (v1A1) Currently planning detailed testing with HWiNFO logs to isolate root cause Goal is to confirm if it’s BIOS/firmware-related or true hardware failure
So just after installing Windows, I only found the network drivers on my PC. You shouldn't depend on automatic updates because they often install the wrong drivers or generic ones instead of the right ones. Check your motherboard website to get all the necessary drivers for your computer, and also visit Nvidia's site to download the specific drivers for your graphics card.
I'm sorry, but I didn't say exactly what I did back then. I installed more than just the LAN drivers. The ones I grabbed and put on my computer were: Intel Chipset Driver Killer Network Universal Drivers Intel Dynamic Tuning Technology Intel Serial IO Drivers 10G Super LAN Drivers. And yes, the GPU was also upgraded. I'll download whatever is left when I get home. I was only trying to connect it with a hope that everything would finish up. Thanks for that suggestion.